Shameless Sex Calls Out Instagram, Social Media for Shadow-Banning Women’s Content

(Los Angeles, CA / March 11, 2019) — April Lampert and Amy Baldwin, creators and hosts of female-forward sex-ed podcast Shameless Sex, have found themselves in the crosshairs of a censorship conflict with Instagram that appears to specifically target women.

“Shameless Sex, along with many other woman-run sex education/activism accounts have officially been ‘shadow-banned’”, says Baldwin, “while it seems many male-run exploitive/pornographic accounts continue to run freely.”

The popular podcast, which covers various sex-related topics in a humorous, informative and non-exploitative manner – and many female-led educational outlets like it – have been unfairly singled out and censored, believes Baldwin.

“It feels like women’s voices are being silenced for talking or teaching about sexuality, while male-owned accounts are still allowed to objectify women and/or promote sex-negativity.”

Colleagues of Baldwin and Lampert have also had similar issues with YouTube and Twitter, while other high-profile platforms such as Google, Apple and Reddit have also hit users with ‘violation of community guidelines’ notices.

Last year’s passing of the FOSTA-SESTA ‘sex-trafficking’ law – where websites are now legally accountable for their users’ potentially-problematic content – is creating an over-censoring issue for users… mostly female ones.

As a result, many online sexuality educators and bloggers are rallying to take a stand and get the word out about ‘shadow-banning’ content, which affects traffic count, user engagement and hashtag searches.

“The guidelines don’t quite add up considering what is still allowed on these platforms,” says Baldwin. “We feel targeted for pushing the envelope of women’s sexual empowerment. We’ve had many listeners write in to Instagram on our behalf stating that they want us back, as we have had a strong influence on their personal growth and well-being.”

Each week, Shameless Sex Podcast draws in over 500,000 downloads and 20,000 listens via iTunes.com and ShamelessSex.com, as well as over 500K listens on Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher, YouTube and other apps in over 75 countries.

To support and help Shameless Sex fight online content censorship, visit ShamelessSex.com or follow on social media:

Instagram: @SHAMELESSSEXPODCAST

Twitter:  @shameless_sex

Facebook: Shameless Sex Podcast

ABOUT SHAMELESS SEX:

‘Shameless Sex’ is a weekly podcast hosted by Amy Baldwin and April Lampert, inspiring radical self-love, sexual empowerment, and shame-free intimacy. Shameless Sex is unabashed real talk about sexuality with a playful twist.  Amy is a Somatic Sex and Relationship Coach, Certified Sex Educator, sales trainer and educator for Uberlube, as well as co-owner of a mother-daughter owned pleasure boutique called Pure Pleasure Shop. April has been educating people about sexual pleasure, health and wellness at a global scale for the past 11 years. She travels internationally as VP of Hot Octopuss, an innovative pleasure products company. Visit ShamelessSex.com and iTunes.com to find out more about how to have ‘Shameless Sex’.